A 29-year-old Mother from Arizona was arrested and charged over the weekend after she was accused of molesting her two young children and filming it. She then allegedly sold the videos online.
People magazine identified her as Keri Harwood from New River, Arizona. She was arrested from her home on Sunday. She now faces charges including multiple felony counts of sexual exploitation and molestation of a child. Her Kids, whose identities have not been revealed, are said to be ages three and six years old.
Mother offers explanation why she did it
Harwood allegedly confessed to authorities that she recorded the videos after she met a man online who told her to stream herself doing sexual acts on kids in exchange for hundreds of dollars.
She met the man via the social media platform Snapchat.
The mother-of-two reportedly did not just need the money desperately but also did not want to disappoint the man since they have been sexting for a time now. The videos of her inappropriately doing sexual acts to her kids were reportedly paid between $500 to $600 per clip. The videos showed bathing and touching her kids.
Initially, Harwood was the one who sent videos of her masturbating to the same man in exchange for money. The videos of her were paid around $50 to $115.
The man is believed to be living in Texas. The man is yet to be arrested. It was not detailed yet what the charges are that the man will possibly face.
Harwood remains in jail on a $150,000 bond.
Abuse happened when her husband was at work
Harwood is married and the abuse reportedly took place while her husband, Cody, was at work, Heavy reported. Her husband did not yet comment on the issue. It was not stated if the kids are with their father.
How the videos were discovered
According to azcentral, a neighbor was the one who discovered the videos.
The neighbor reportedly plays Pokemon Go with Harwood. The neighbor discovered the videos on her email as well as PayPal transactions. Harwood gave the neighbor access to her email as she had a poor internet connection and asked him to catch Pokemon for her. The neighbor later tipped officials at Maricopa County Sheriff’s Office.
Sheriff Paul Penzone thanked the neighbor who alerted authorities. Penzone said in a press release that horrible acts of child abuse like the one that Harwood did to her kids can be stopped with the help of the alert members in the community. He urged others to report anything suspicious to end exploitation.
